Posted on 12/07/2025 4:05:37 PM PST by nickcarraway
Jack Douglas was the producer behind John Lennon’s final albums: 1980’s Double Fantasy and 1984’s posthumously-released Milk and Honey.
Given his close relationship with Lennon and the musician’s tragic murder, Douglas initially didn’t make a big deal out of the money he was owed for the projects. But as the years went by, and royalty payments failed to come in, he approached Yoko Ono to settle up the finances.
What resulted was a bizarre court case that almost seems too strange to believe.
Jann Wenner’s Contradictory Testimony
“She was being advised by a really bad guy,” Douglas recalled during a recent podcast interview, noting that he was “the one guy” Ono should have trusted given the circumstances.
Though he tried to come to an agreement without a lawsuit, Douglas and Ono ended up in New York’s Superior Court battling their dispute.
One of the first witnesses Ono’s team called to the stand was Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone magazine. According to Douglas, the media mogul was offered some exclusive content in exchange for his support.
“She promised Jann that he could have [Lennon’s] journal. If he came in and testified on her behalf,” the producer claimed. “Of course, she didn't have the journal. Nobody had the journal.”
“So Jan gets up there. And so her attorney is saying, ‘So who was this Jack Douglas, anyway?’” the music veteran continued. "And Jann is saying, ‘He was really a nobody…Kind of an engineer. That's all. I mean, John liked him. And he gave him a job.”
In addition to his work with Lennon, Douglas’ resume included major albums with the Who and Aerosmith. The producer was far from a “nobody,” and Wenner’s words immediately came back to haunt him.
“So now my attorney, Peter Parcher, gets up,” Douglas recalled. “And he's got a book in his hand. And it's Jann's book. And he said, ‘Jann, would you read this?’ And it's a chapter in his book where he talks about me being this producer. He makes Jann read it to the jury. And of course, that was terrible.”
Phil Spector Takes the Stand ‘Totally ----ed Up’
If Wenner’s testimony was embarrassing, Phil Spector’s was downright comical. According to Douglas, the legendary ‘wall of sound’ producer appeared incapacitated in court.
“Phil is totally ------ up. He's totally ------ up,” Douglas declared. “And he gets on the stand and they're asking him questions. And he can't make any sense out of even what they're asking him.”
Things only got worse when Spector’s testimony was over.
“So now no more questions. He gets up and he stumbles,” Douglas recalled. “And as he stumbles out of the witness box, his wig goes sideways. So now his sideburns are over his nose. And it was just a pathetic sight. And everybody was like, oh, my God.”
Yoko Hired a Witch?
Besides those who were testifying, the court room was filled with supporters on both sides of the lawsuit.
“The room was divided by an aisle in the middle,” Douglas remembered. “I was sitting up front. [Yoko] wouldn't sit up front because of assassination attempts. So she was sitting crowded by her people.”
Each day, Douglas made a point of thanking everyone who was sitting on his side showing their support.
“It would be the same people every day,” he recalled. “Same people. And I would come in. And I always [say], ‘Thanks. Thank you. Thanks for coming by.’”
“And there was one guy. He was sitting almost directly behind me,” the producer continued. “And I'd say, ‘Thank you so much for coming in.’ And he would just look at me. He wouldn't even say anything. Just look at me.”
Douglas further recalled this mystery man staring at him throughout the legal proceedings. “I could see the guy's eyes boring into the back of me… And then one day, he was gone."
The producer soon discovered the man’s mystical backstory.
“So now, (acclaimed rock photographer) Bob Gruen, because he worked with Yoko, had to sit on Yoko's side,” Douglas explained. “And Bob and I are very good friends. So Bob and I would meet in the men's room, so we could talk. And Bob said to me, ‘Boy, you ------ that guy up.’ So I said, ‘What guy? He's going, ‘That witch that Yoko hired to put a spell on you. He was sitting directly behind you. He went up to Yoko, and he said, I can't get anywhere with this guy. Every day, he comes in and thanks me. He smiles. He pats me on the back.’”
Jack Douglas and Yoko Ono Mend Their Relationship
It didn’t take long for the jury to find in Douglas’ favor, awarding him over $2.5 million in royalties. Some years later, he and Ono were able to make peace at one of Sean Lennon’s concerts at the Bowery Ballroom.
“She was upstairs. I was sitting downstairs. (25:52) And somebody came downstairs and said, Yoko would like you to come up to the table,” Douglas recalled. And I came up, and I went upstairs, and she gave me a big hug. And she said, really, a lot of water has run onto the bridge. And then we started working on little things together.”
These days, the two remain close. Douglas has been a guest at Ono’s art exhibits and still receives a Christmas card from her every year. “We stay in touch,” the producer confirmed. “I love her.”
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Jim
she was a horrible person....ask Julian...
She was, but she isn’t any more?
Whoa, Jann Wenner, Phil Spector, and a hex-throwing witch? The witch was the normal one of the three.
Last i read she’s in upstate NY living her final days, so i don’t know...
Yoko may have lost this one, but she always has her singing career to fall back on.
Rare unfinished Beatle song
Sound up
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R7IT5OgWewE&pp=ygUSeW9rbyBzaW5ncyBiZWF0bGVz
Two highlights on that album;
“Woman”, written and sung by John Lennon.
plus “Hard Times Are Over” written and sung (believe it or not!!) by Yoko Ono. Yoko’s raspy voice and shop worn delivery
suited that particular song to a T. It was believable when she performed it.
Now, that is forgiveness. The woman who has hundreds of millions and ongoing royalties from her husband’s work, goes to the wall to not pay the producer of her husband’s last albums, makes a bogus promise to a patsy witness, and hires a male witch, rather than letting the trial play out naturally.
And he STILL forgives her.
BTW, he did a great job producing Double Fantasy, it was heroic to attempt to make the Yoko tracks (except the unsalvageable “Kiss Kiss Kiss”) sound listenable.
He produced their album and then she tried to stiff him. Glad he finally got his due. Hope he received interest and she paid his lawyer’s fees. Now they’re friends? With “friends” like that… JSMH.
“Imagine no possessions... I wonder if you can...” Oh, never mind!
Amazing- her cover of Billy Joel’s “Big Shot” is a once in a lifetime listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03K4J_nstcI&list=RD03K4J_nstcI&start_radio=1
I didn’t see anything about a contract requiring royalties.
If Chapman just used one of those bullets on Yoko he would have been a hero.
Wow
Still sounds the same as in 1969 even though she’s in her 80’s there
Talk about Longevity
Yoko Oh-No is 92 years old.
The screeching between my ears never really goes away.
Yoko’s ever-lasting legacy to the world.
John Lennon gave his wife a pittance to divorce her, and then he made one account of $100,000 to be split among any children he had. He did not leave his oldest son anything other than that. Not any keepsake, not a trust, nothing. He barely saw that son, except for when a concubine hired by Ono made him.
Right before he died, he gave an interview to Playboy saying horrible things about his son.
And he left the wife who loved him for a women who was cheating on him the entire time they were together, she left him in 1973 so she could marry her lover, but grabbed him back when the lover wouldn't marry her. She moved a different love into their shared apartment the day after he was killed. John Lennon was angry the last two years of his life, because she was giving his clothes to her lover, Sam Havadtoy.
Seem like they were a well matched cover.
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